According to the New York Daily News, 20-year-old Renato Seabra told police that he cut off Carlos Castro’s genitals with a corkscrew to “cure” Castro’s homosexuality. Seabra beat Castro, a Portuguese writer and gay activist, and left him to die in the New York City hotel room the couple shared.

Seabra, however, denies that he and Castro were a couple. Seabra’s mother states that “From the beginning, [Seabra] never hid his sexuality, which is heterosexual.”

Seabra’s mother also claims her son is innocent, which is only slightly contradicted by that whole “confession” thing.

Let’s put this all into perspective. The man was willing to, as Jezebel put it, “confess to ripping out a man’s genitals before he’d admit to having sex with him.” That’s some deep anti-gay self-loathing there.

Wishing everyone involved, especially Castro’s family, all the best as they work through this horrible crime.